As Friends, Naturally
by septasonicxx
Summary: Draco & Hermione are in the right place, right time. So many years have passed since they last spoke and as they begin talking they realise they've both done a lot of growing since then. Post Hogwarts, nextGen timeline. Please read extra info inside.


**As Friends, Naturally**

A/N: I have no flippidy-blipping idea if this is good or not.

Occasion: 'First Date' contest on deviantART.  
>Requirements: A magical photograph of one or both on the date, a muggle car and a visit to the hospital wingSt. Mungo's.  
>Setting: Post Hogwarts, 'Next Generation' time. Scorpius is seventeen. Don't ask me how old they are. I don't do maths anymore.<br>Pairing: Draco/Hermione

I hope you enjoy it. And if you'd like to know more about the contest or if you would like to be informed of the outcome (for example, if my story wins) please send me a message and I'll get back to you. Review? :)

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><p>Draco closed his eyes and leaned against the bar, a drink in his hand as he let his thoughts wander. He could hardly believe that so much time had gone by since his wife, Astoria, passed away. Had it really been five months already? Since then he had spent his time busying himself with work and trying not to show the world how much it hurt. Naturally, reporters would jump at the chance to sell a story of how Draco Malfoy couldn't keep himself together without a wife.<p>

He was alright, now, but the first few weeks after her death he hadn't been sure whether he would ever recover. He had really loved Astoria despite what some people believed, and losing her produced an incredible pain he would never wish on anyone. He was just glad he'd been able to make himself focus on the good times they'd had together, rather than dwelling on her death. That was how he was able to hold his head up today.

He was now more worried about Scorpius than anything else. The boy had been just as shocked by Astoria's death as Draco was, but Draco couldn't quite be sure that the wound had healed for him yet. They hadn't spoken or seen much of each other in quite a while. Even though it was now school holidays, Scorpius was always out with friends.

"Do you want another?"

Draco looked up to see the barman peering down at him and only then did he notice he had finished his drink during his thoughts. He nodded his answer and placed the empty glass on the counter, stretching slightly and glancing around at all the other people in the club. He was tempted to join in the dancing at times, but didn't think anyone would want to dance with him. Even now, after so many years since the Battle at Hogwarts, he found it difficult to integrate back into society because of what everyone knew about him.

A slight frown creased his forehead slightly as he watched one of the women dancing, his mind trying to figure out why she looked familiar. Then, she as she spun around and her face became clearer, he realised.

Granger.

To be honest, Draco didn't think the press would have stopped following him around so fervently – waiting for a reaction – if it hadn't been for Granger and Weasley divorcing each other two months ago. It wasn't _that_ exciting, of course, but at least the reporter's were smart enough to realise they would make more money out of that story than they would of another story about him.

Taking a swig of his new drink which he hadn't even noticed arrive, he suddenly noticed that Granger was staring back at him. She had ceased her dancing and there was a curious expression on her face which he couldn't interpret, but in the next moment she began making her way through the twisting bodies towards him and he quickly faced the bar.

Just great. She had obviously taken his stare to be an invitation when it was most certainly was _not_.

"I haven't seen you in a while," came the inevitable proposition to start a conversation. Draco felt compelled to answer even though he _really_ didn't want to talk to her right now. She was just another person who remembered the past and the role he played in everything. He wished he could forget it all, but it was people like _her_ who kept bringing it up.

"Busy life," was all he said in reply. They settled into a silence for a moment and Draco was tempted to see if it would die out and Granger would leave him alone, but he also didn't want to risk allowing her to take control of the situation and bring up subjects he didn't want to talk about. Therefore, he decided to speak up again. "I didn't have you down as the sort to hang out at club's."

Looking over at her, Draco was annoyed to see Granger smiling.

"I never really expected to see myself at a place like this either," she told him. "But circumstances changed and... well, I did as well. And I wanted a change of scenery."

"I heard you and Weasley had a fallout," Draco said, resisting the urge to say 'the Weasel' as he would have done many years ago. Even in this small way, he wanted to try and prove to Granger that he had changed. He wasn't the small, frightened boy that he used to be. He was now a man.

"Yes," Granger's smile had turned into a frown now and Draco wondered silently why he didn't feel more smug about wiping it off her face. He hadn't changed _that_ much had he? Although he supposed it was possible, especially after being married to such an angel as Astoria.

"What happened?" he found himself asking, surprising himself by the genuine interest in his voice.

"We just grew apart, that's all," Granger smiled again, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "It's no big deal. It could happen to anybody."

Draco looked down at his drink and tried to imagine the situation occurring between him and Astoria. It wasn't very hard to imagine Astoria growing bored of him – although if he had ever said that to her while she was still alive she probably would have socked him for it – but he couldn't imagine not loving her. It was _because_ he still loved her that he was able to move on with his life now, truly believing that she would have wanted him to do that.

"Erm," Granger shifted awkwardly on her feet and bit her lip as she considered her next words, watching Draco sadly. "I was so sorry to hear about Astoria." For a moment Draco though she was going to say something else, but then she closed her mouth and looked down at the floor.

"Thank you," Draco murmured. At least she was trying to be nice.

Looking up again and smiling warmly at him, Granger then glanced around the room before looking back at the door.

"Would you like to go somewhere a bit more quiet to talk?" she asked him.

"What do you have in mind?" Draco asked, swishing his drink around absent-mindedly. Talking about Astoria made his heart hurt and he didn't have the strength to turn Granger down on her offer. Maybe it would be good to finally talk to someone again, anyway, especially since the most talking he did nowadays was to work colleagues.

"Well, outside the club for a start," Granger laughed. "Then... wherever I suppose. I don't mind. We could have a bit of a walk around and maybe go somewhere for dinner."

Draco's head shot up and he frowned across at her, wondering whether or not she was aware of what she had just said. There was a slight blush forming across her cheeks and she forced out a laugh again, feeling nervous.

"Just as friends, of course," she amended.

_Just as friends, naturally_.

That was what Astoria had said the first time he asked her anywhere. He had quickly agreed to her request although, later on, came to find out that she had always been thinking of it as a date.

"That never means what you think it does," Draco said slowly.

Granger met his gaze steadily and took a deep breath. "I'm willing to risk it. Are you?"

It was his call. One small word and he could be on his way to regretting this night for the rest of his life. The only question was, which answer would he regret more?

"Sure," he finally said, knocking back the rest of his drink and placing the glass on the bar before fishing out some sickles and placing them down as well. "Lead the way."

Granger moved towards the door and he fell into step beside her, keeping his head down to try and avoid unwanted attention. It had become second nature over the years not only for that reason, but also because he didn't want to see the looks people often sent his way. Looks of disgust and disappointment.

Once they were outside they began walking past the shops in silence. Neither of them knew what to say.

Bravely, Granger decided to talk first. "There's a small diner down there where we could get something to eat if you'd like," she suggested, gesturing at a building with dim lighting but a warm atmosphere.

"That's fine," Draco replied. He didn't comment on her choice of a diner, deciding that it would only make the situation more awkward if he voiced how cosy and couple-y it appeared. Besides, he thought with a sigh, he was as much to blame for this as she was.

"How is Scorpius?" Granger asked as they continued walking, obviously trying hard not to let the awkward silences between them go for too long.

"He's fine," Draco shrugged. "But it's hard for him."

"Of course," Granger nodded understandingly.

"What about _your_ children?" Draco questioned then, wanting to change the subject so he didn't have to talk about his son much more. He didn't want to risk admitting that he really didn't know how Scorpius was doing at all. "Who got them after the divorce?"

"We let them choose," Granger explained. "Rose decided to stay with me but Hugo wanted to be with Ron."

They reached the diner then and Draco opened the door, letting Hermione step past him into the room first. There was a smile on his lips as he remembered all the times he had opened a door for Astoria and he allowed the thought to fill him as he followed Hermione to a table and pulled out the chair for her so she could sit down.

Sitting opposite, Draco said, "I'll order once you've decided what you want."

They picked up the menu's and began browsing the options they had, once again lapsing into a silence. This time, however, it didn't seem as awkward as before.

"You know," Hermione murmured after a few moments, lowering her menu slightly to look across at Draco as she spoke. "I never thought you'd agree to this."

He frowned, looking up at her. Their circumstance surprised him as well, as here they were sitting together and having a civilised conversation as if there had never been ill words between them, but he had come to realise lately that things could change in the blink of an eye and it was best to simply accept things when they did.

A movement behind Hermione suddenly caught his attention and he peered around her to look out the window, his eyes fixing on the man that stood there with a camera held in front of his face. The man suddenly brought it down, eyes wide in surprise, and ducked down behind a very small shrub.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, swivelling to try and figure out what he was looking at.

"Merlin, they just never give up," Draco growled out as he stood up. "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to leave."

"Why? What's wrong?" Hermione stood up as well and glanced behind again, still trying to work out what he's seen.

"A reporter's seen us," Draco explained quickly, taking her arm and beginning to lead her out of the diner. "I'm not sure, but I think he took a photograph."

"Why on earth would a reporter be interested in _us_?" Hermione gasped. As they left the diner, the man hiding behind the shrub scrambled up and ran off into a crowd, disappearing quickly. Draco muttered something under his breath in annoyance.

Turning to Hermione, he said, "You have to understand that not much of interest has happened lately. The most exciting stories you read in the paper are about Harry Potter and what he's doing now. Your divorce with Weasley was also in the paper, as was Astoria's death. Why? Because we were there during the Battle at Hogwarts and people like to know where we are now. People are especially interested in knowing about me because they're waiting for me to slip up and do something that will bring shame on my family again."

"Are you saying that being seen with me will bring shame on your-?"

"No," Draco interrupted her, knowing where she had been going with that sentence. "But it will make people talk. You and Weasley have only just divorced two months ago and, as far as the Wizarding world is concerned, I'm still getting over Astoria. I mean I am, but... don't you understand? People will jump to conclusions when they see us together at a diner."

Hermione was silent as she took in his words and understood that it was true. What would Harry and Ron say when they got the paper tomorrow and there was an article showing her out at night with Draco?

Draco was about to begin making his way in pursuit of the reporter so that he could try and get the camera off of him when someone else darted in front of him, gasping for breath.

"Mr Malfoy!" they exclaimed.

Looking down at the boy who stood in his way, Draco tried to remember where he had seen his face before. Was this a friend of Scorpius?

"What?" Draco asked, folding his arms.

"It's Scorpius! He's had an accident and was sent to St. Mungo's!" the boy exclaimed. Draco's thoughts were confirmed as he now remembered seeing the boy when Scorpius invited some friends over once, but then he gasped as the words hit home. Scorpius, his son, was in St. Mungo's?

"What happened?" Draco exclaimed, gripping the boys shoulders and shaking him desperately. The boy stared at him in fright and stuttered incomprehensibly for a few minutes before falling silent again. "Speak to me!" Draco demanded angrily.

"Draco," Hermione said, touching his arm gently to try and calm him down.

"Just tell me what happened!" Draco now pleaded, his panic showing on his face as he let go of the boy and stepped back slightly. "Is he okay?"

The boy took a deep breath to prepare himself and then began explaining. "The thing is, Scorpius was um... well he was racing with some mates and-"

"Racing? Broom racing?" Draco asked to clarify.

The boy winced. "Car racing, Sir."

Blood pounded in Draco's ears and he fought to stay focused as the boy then continued speaking.

"He was in front and was going to win when he spun out of control. The uh, the car flipped over. But it's okay, because I apparated to St Mungo's and called for help and got some of the Mediwizard's to come back with me. They were able to get him out of the car and take him back to St. Mungo's and then I came looking for you."

"What's your name?" Hermione asked politely, as Draco couldn't find any words to say.

"Christopher," the boy replied. As Draco studied him, he realised he wasn't really a boy at all. He looked about seventeen, although he was very small for his age.

"Thank you Christopher," Hermione went on. "Would you be able to tell us which ward Scorpius is in?"

It took a moment for Draco to be aware that he still hadn't said anything and then he was incredibly thankful to Hermione for taking control of the situation the way she had. If she hadn't been with him, he didn't know what he would have done.

Before he knew it, someone had taken hold of his hand and then they were apparating away from the dark street and the diner, appearing in a waiting room at St. Mungo's. Striding forward quickly and not noticing that he was dragging Hermione along with him as they were still holding hands, he went right up to a Mediwitch and cleared his throat to get her attention.

"My son Scorpius," he said. "Where is he?"

"Ah, Mr Malfoy," the Witch said with a smile. "Your son is being healed right this moment so I'd like to ask you to wait here for the time being. You will be summoned as soon as he is ready for visitors."

"How is he?" Draco asked anxiously, his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"He'll be fine," the Witch assured him with another warm smile.

As the Witch then left to attend to other things that needed to be done, Draco moved over to the seats that were in the waiting room and sat down. Only then did he realise he was holding Hermione's hand and quickly let go, feeling his face heat up slightly.

"Sorry," he murmured awkwardly. "My mind's not completely here."

"You don't have to apologise," Hermione said gently. There was a pause as neither said anything and then she added, "I'm sure Scorpius really will be fine, and you'll be able to see him soon enough."

Draco nodded solemnly and then gave a half-grin, saying, "It's probably best that I can't see him right away. It gives me time to come to terms with what he was doing."

"Car racing?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Draco sighed, the grin fading away. "I can't believe he'd do something so stupid. He knows never to trust muggle devices! He could have been killed!"

"But he wasn't," Hermione quickly put in, wanting to help Draco to see the good in the situation.

"But what was he thinking?" Draco exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "The Scorpius I know would never do anything like that! Unless..." He fell silent and his shoulders slumped, defeat coming over him as a thought took place in his mind.

The truth was he didn't know Scorpius any more. Not since Astoria had died and the two of them had stopped talking like they used to. Maybe Scorpius had done this as a way to try and get attention? Or maybe he was simply trying to rebel because he was a teenager.

"Everything's going to be okay," Hermione comforted him softly, breaking through his thoughts. "Trust me."

Trust Hermione. Trust the woman who had reached out to him despite the wrong he had done in his past and who always seemed to know exactly what to say to help the situation. He had only been around her for less than an hour and already she had demonstrated those qualities.

"You can leave if you want," Draco told her. "But just so that you know, I'm not usually so complicated on a first date." The words came out easily and he felt slightly relieved to be able to talk to someone so freely even though he was sure Hermione would leave now that she had an excuse to. He hadn't spoken to anyone like this since Astoria died.

"Don't worry," Hermione said, her tone of voice light and amused. "I've had much more complicated boyfriends than you."

Draco looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a challenge?" he asked her.

"It can be if you want," she shrugged innocently.

Laughing, Draco was about to say something else when a door opened and a Mediwizard stepped out.

"Mr Malfoy?"

Draco and Hermione both stood up and Draco nodded, saying, "That's me. Is Scorpius okay?"

"He's doing fine," the Wizard said with a nod. "You can come in and see him now if you'd like. He should wake up from the effects of the sleeping spell any minute."

The Mediwizard then walked back inside the room and Draco turned to Hermione, who was smiling at him encouragingly.

"Do you mind waiting out here? I just... I'd like to do this on my own. Besides, I don't know how he'd react if he saw me with another woman already," Draco said quietly.

"That's fine," Hermione said with a nod. "Take your time. I don't have a curfew."

Feeling strangely giddy, Draco smiled at her.

"Thank you, Hermione," he said. "For being here tonight and not bringing up bad memories of a past long ago. I-I never imagined I'd be having a conversation like this with you but I really enjoy your company."

"I enjoy yours as well," Hermione smiled back. "It's a refreshing change from the people I'm around all day at work."

Draco nodded in understanding and and then let out a small gasp of shock when Hermione promptly leaned up to him and placed a soft kiss on his lips. A blush tinged her cheeks again and she took a few steps backwards. Nerves tingling with mixed sensations, Draco found himself striding forward and holding her shoulders as he bent his head down to kiss her again, deeper this time. She was soft, like Astoria, but also entirely differently.

When they separated, neither of them quite knew what to say. Hermione let out a nervous laugh before gesturing at the door to Scorpius' room and moving to sit on one of the waiting room chairs herself. Swallowing, Draco turned and pushed open the door to step through.

Before his mind could swap over entirely to only thinking about Scorpius, Draco found himself thinking of two things in particular. Firstly, he had no idea when Granger had suddenly become Hermione to him. And secondly, not once had the thought occurred to him that he was at risk of being contaminated by a mudblood.

Draco and Hermione were now anything but just friends.

Naturally.


End file.
